NZAID

PMC Update | August 2008

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The Programme Management Committee (PMC) is responsible for the running of the KOHA-PICD and HAF (Humanitarian Action Fund) funding schemes for New Zealand 's international development NGOs. It holds six meetings a year; each is followed by an Update. The Updates include information on decisions taken by the PMC at its most recent meeting and issues of general interest to the New Zealand NGO community regarding the two schemes. The PMC welcomes your feedback on the Updates and any suggestions you have for their improvement.

As well as being posted on the NZAID Website, this Update is also sent directly to people within KOHA-registered NGOs. We would be pleased to add other names from your NGO to the distribution list. Just send the names and email addresses of people you would like to receive Updates directly to claire-louise@koha-picd.org.nz  and we will oblige, starting with the next Update.

KOHA & HAF Update | August 2008

 

Introduction

During its meeting of 29-31 July, the PMC considered the annual notifications and other reports from the Block Grant Organisations (BGOs) along with various reports and applications from the Independent Grant Organisations (IGOs). The Committee also allocated KOHA and HAF grants to BGOs for the next financial year and had a half-day of business relating to HAF which was attended by Belinda Gorman (Deputy Chair, NDRF). There was discussion about the current round of reviews with Terry Butt and a brief meeting with Lee Sentes, Council for International Development (CID) to progress a decision on a venue for the 2009 Forum event. We are pleased to advise that the 2009 Forum will be held in Auckland , in March.

The main outcomes of the year's biggest meeting for the PMC are summarised below along with related items of interest on the KOHA-PICD scheme for the New Zealand NGO development community.

BGO Annual Notifications and Reports

This year the PMC received annual notifications relating to 148 projects, compared to 139 notifications last year. The average number was 18; the range was from 6 to 31 per organisation. (These numbers exclude Family Planning International which has a single project as a BGO.) The PMC was impressed by the high standard of this year's annual notifications. For those readers not familiar with the terminology, an ‘annual notification' provides the PMC with an overview of each project (less than $200,000) funded by the BGO during the previous year. The AM&E reports from the BGOs were again informative documents and we hope to be able to extract the interesting ‘lessons learned' for wider dissemination. (Please refer to a discussion on this in the July 2008 Update.)

Allocations to Block Grant Organisations

The PMC made the annual allocations for the KOHA BGOs and the HAF BGOs (the two lists are not identical) for 2008/2009. The 15% increase in funding allocations to the two schemes was reflected in the increased grants to the BGOs and to the budget allocation for future IGO projects.

KOHA-PICD Reports

The PMC considered a number of project reports and accepted the following: Cambodia Trust (Community-based development to reduce poverty amongst disadvantaged disabled people, Cambodia); Christian World Service (Partner Learning Works); Global Opportunities (Strengthening of the community-based organisation at Matigara, India); Salvation Army (Xinghe capacity building programme for immigrant women, China; Rural women's empowerment project, Malawi); Save the Children (Project knowledge system development, Phases One and Two).

KOHA-PICD Applications Approved / July 2008

  • ChildFund NZ | ChildFund Vietnam . PfD
  • Christian Blind Mission NZ | Samuha Samarthya , India AM&E / Partnership with comprehensive community-based rehabilitation, Tanzania . PfD
  • International Needs NZ | Strategic planning support, Bougainville , PNG. GEN
  • Mahitahi | Solomon Islands . AM&E
  • NZ Children's Health and Education Trust | Palm Project: Women's collective of the Maskelynes, Vanuatu . PfD
  • NZ China Friendship Society | Establish cooperative trainer of trainers programme at Shandan Bailie School and extend cooperatives in four new counties of Zhangye , China . GEN / Establishment of partnership with women's federation of Shaanxi Province , China . PfD
  • Save the Children NZ | Programme management system. OSG
  • The Family Centre | Workshop with Justice, Peace and Development Network, Samoa . PfD
  • UNICEF NZ | Partnership appraisal visit to the UNICEF Pacific Area Office, Fiji . PfD
  • WWF-NZ | Visit to monitor Building Capacity for Resource Management Project, Tetepare Island , Solomon Islands . AM&E / Te Kaiveinga Ora no te Aorangi: environment education for schools and communities, Cook Islands . GEN

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Final Update on the GFBO Paper

A very successful meeting of the working party to review the guidelines was held in Wellington on 25 th July, facilitated by Eleanor Sanderson. The working party was keen to stress the relevance of the new draft guidelines to the work of the whole sector, something that is reflected in the proposed new name of “ Guidelines on religious diversity and development ”. The working group also identified a number of topics for inclusion in a guidance note to help explain and clarify how it is proposed to apply the guidelines. After the meeting, Eleanor made further revisions to reflect the views of the working party. The next draft is circulating to all KOHA-registered NGOs along with the draft guidance notes for their consideration during August. The PMC will consider any comments made before the new guidelines are presented for adoption at the Annual Meeting in October.

Nominations for the PMC Elections

This will be the last reminder and request to all KOHA-registered NGOs to consider possible nominations for the elected PMC positions. There will be two vacancies to fill in October and details of the nomination process will be forthcoming from CID. The details of what's involved in being on the PMC are covered in the May Update. Thanks for giving your thoughts to nominations for these important positions.

KOHA and HAF Meeting Dates for 2009

For your forward planning, here are the meeting dates and deadlines for submitting reports and applications as set by the PMC. (Easter Friday will be 10 April 2009.)

 
Deadline
Meeting Dates 2009
11 February
3-5 March
29 April
19-21 May
8 July
28-30 July
For KOHA & HAF BGOs:
3 July – AM&E reports & ANs
20 July – Financial reports & applications
2 September
23-24 September
28 October
18-19 November

 

Please note that the PMC will meet five times next year, not the usual six. This will be explained in a letter to NGOs, but the main reason is the need to bring forward the last meeting for the financial year to improve the timelines relating to the signoff of money to the NGOs. The first two meetings will now be 3 days long instead of the usual 2-day ones. The new timetable also provides more ‘breathing space' for NGOs after the Christmas break before reports and applications are due.

The dates for regional meetings between NGOs and NZAID are still draft, pending confirmation by the CID Board in November. The draft dates are 4 May ( Christchurch ), 6 May ( Wellington ), and 8 May ( Auckland ) with the Annual Meeting on 15 October 2009.

Requests for Project Extensions

Development projects are often subject to delays for a variety of valid reasons. The PMC would like to remind NGOs that when they ask for a no-cost extension for projects they should give an explanation as to why the extension is needed. It would also be appropriate when seeking an extension to advise the PMC of the approximate percentage of funds that have been expended to date.

Meeting the Meeting Deadlines

Linked with the previous item is a strong request to get reports and applications to the Administrator before the deadline. Sending material just after the deadline means that collating and distributing papers to the PMC members gets complicated and we have insufficient time for preparation prior to PMC meetings. Please note that the signed paper version of reports or applications is the ‘official' version which needs to be with KOHA/HAF Administrators by noon, at the very latest, on the deadline day. The electronic version is a backup only. If your partner has not provided sufficient information before the deadline, please write explaining the delay, with a progress report, and an indication of when the information will be provided.

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HAF Annual Notifications and Reports

The eight BGOs in the HAF scheme submitted a total of 46 annual notifications (range was 3 – 9), a considerable increase from the 21 provided for the previous year. As with the AM&E reports provided for the KOHA scheme, those on HAF activities were interesting and we hope to share some with the wider community in the future.

HAF & EMDR Reports

The PMC accepted the following reports: NZ China Friendship Society (Guangxi flooding, China 2005); Save the Children NZ (Capacity building in emergency and disaster management, Pakistan); TEAR Fund (Equipping and supporting the Thalassemia units in Iraq); ADRA (Improving the shelter conditions of Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu, India; Food security and livelihood project, Phalombe District, Malawi); Rotary NZWCS (Shelterbox, Papua New Guinea); World Vision (Jaffna food security project, Sri Lanka).

HAF Applications Approved | July 2008

  • Rotary NZWCS | ShelterBox

Deciding Between ‘Emergency Response' and Other HAF Actions

During its consideration of the HAF annual notifications, the PMC noted considerable variation in the way the BGOs had categorised the types of projects they funded. It is a requirement of NZAID that at least 50% of HAF grant allocations are spent on emergency response projects each year. The other categories are ‘prevention and preparedness' and ‘rehabilitation and reconstruction'. The PMC does recognise that at times it can be difficult to decide when the emergency response phase has changed into ‘rehabilitation and reconstruction'. It is important, therefore, that the BGOs using HAF funds have a common understanding of how to categorise projects. The NDRF (NGO Disaster Relief Forum) is an appropriate forum for this discussion to now take place.

HAF Reconciliation Form

This year the PMC introduced a reconciliation form for BGOs in relation to their annual income and expenditure. The PMC was appreciative of the summary information these forms provided and thanks the BGOs for the quality of the reconciliations they provided. We did identify a few minor changes to improve the forms and these will be advised. For the 2008-2009 financial year, the reconciliation form will be added to the process used to help determine the allocation amount to BGOs from the HAF fund.

Chair's Comments

The PMC Updates have now been reporting on PMC activities for a year via the NZAID website or directly from the KOHA Administrator. I hope people in the development NGO community have found them a useful way to keep in touch with what the PMC has been doing. I would welcome any comments you might have on format or content. Just drop a note to Claire-Louise McCurdy at claire-louise@koha-picd.org.nz .

In the August 2007 Update we farewelled Ellie Sanderson from the PMC team. This year we farewell Alan Fletcher and Robert Choy, two valued members of the PMC who have contributed an enormous amount to our work. During my 20 months as Chair I have appreciated the depth of knowledge they have brought to our discussions concerning development as well as on the KOHA/HAF schemes and the ‘extra kilometer' they have cheerfully gone at times to help out. They leave behind two pairs of big shoes to fill. I'd note that Robert and Alan are part of a long line of skilled and hard-working people from the NGO community that have developed this unique partnership with NZAID and its predecessor that remains central to the ongoing success of the KOHA scheme.

My apologies for missing your annual NGO/NZAID meeting in October. The date clashes with the 4-yearly World Conservation Congress, organised by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). That will be a somewhat larger gathering with about 6,000 delegates from over 100 countries meeting in Barcelona for 10 days. The agenda is about much more than saving tigers and whales; the Millennium Development Goals and sustainable development initiatives, along with responding to climate change and North-South issues will also be high on the agenda. As I have mentioned before, development and conservation goals are more closely linked than ever before. It should make for an exciting, stimulating and educational event.

Kia kaha

Wren Green

 

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